It might be surprising to some that the
majority of the London-based Asian designers who showed at LFW did not force
their cultural or ethnic backgrounds into their designs.
And while it was a refreshing change to see
designers from the East feeling confident enough to simply design beautiful and
wearable clothes sans any ethnic twist or gimmick, there is something to be
said for keeping your influences subtly on display.
Step forward Huishan Zhang, the
Chinese-born designer held a mainstream LFW show and demonstrated that it is
possible to nod to tradition without being a total cliché.
I mean, a man who considers the picture of
Chinese elegance that is Maggie Cheung his ultimate style icon isn’t going to
veer off into making asymmetrical monochrome prints with conical bras and
Grecian draping is he?
